by phillipw | Feb 21, 2020 | CA, PU
Dido and Aeneas The Queen of Carthage sings that “he is gone” In white-smoke pain. Purcell gives smoke-white tongue To those who lose their men. She acts as pawn; He swells her aching throat and tortured lung With passions of the flames that fill her,...
by phillipw | Feb 18, 2020 | CA, WH, WI
Aunt Wilma’s Voice Aunt Wilma’s voice had wings within it. They Were all the species she had known on Cape Canaveral—and others. The array Included hummingbirds, their whirring shape, The shimmer of the nightingale and lark. In church her...
by phillipw | Feb 2, 2020 | CA, KI
The Spiritual Meaning of Kittenhood She plays with plastic bags until she knocks Them down from off the easy chairs, and spills The contents, loudly, clattering (the box That held the Christmas cookies) and she thrills To see the spreading chaos. “This is what Life’s...
by phillipw | Jan 31, 2020 | BU, CA, KI
The New Purrusalem My kitten steps across my flooring tiles And even though they are the blandest bland, A space of beige like wedding chapel aisles, Tiles turn transparent gold, become the strand Of Heaven leading to the throne of Him Who made her beauty with a...
by phillipw | Jan 23, 2020 | CA, KE, ST
Keats Walked Here The mountainside outshines the twilight force Above the highway and its cars. Their glass And chrome presumably reflect the gorse, Dark green and yellow, from the mountain pass Back up, but weakly; colored echoes are Too feeble. Bog plants made...
by phillipw | Jan 21, 2020 | CA, NE
The Present Morning Nekko sleeping I woke up with a whisker on my bed, A long, white, bendy one. My Nekko sleeps In curled up stripes and back and tail and head. He almost never leaves me gifts but keeps His perfect whiskers to himself. So fine Because of...
